As many of the gents on staff know, I was fortunate enough to score a job with the exponentially growing ad agency, Partners + Napier. It’s been an excellent experience thus far, and with it comes bragging rights… so here it goes. Partners + Napier recently received a Regional Addy for its video created for Kodak Momentum (an Regional Addy meaning an acclaimed design award that only design gods can manifest). I’ve grabbed a few screen captures from the video, but the video in its entirety can be viewed here.

Also be sure to check out the Partners + Nuggets section of their blog, a witty ensemble of the world’s trends and just plain goofy fun facts.

*In an attempt to introduce our readers with the men behind the blog, we bring you our “Eleven Essential” items. Sure, it’s not as personal as a face to face tea date, but each week we plan on taking a moment to introduce one member of the staff, coupled with eleven essential items that they just couldn’t live without. Check back every Wednesday for a new profile or take a look at our staff page as it will begin to supply profile links. And who knows, maybe the future holds a few tea dates.*

Biography

I’m a 22 year-old recent graduate from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY with a BFA in Graphic Design. Aside from my own aspirations as a young designer, it is my hope to aesthetically sculpt a men’s fashion magazine which tantalizes your eyes, yet validates the diversity of our staff and our ideas.

Eleven Essential Items

1.[Favorite Shoe] I’ve been praising my new kicks, so I’m glad this one came first. My favorite pair of shoes is most certainly my Zuriick mid-tops. I’ve never had a more comfortable shoe. It’s just like putting on one more layer of socks.

2.[Favorite Accessory] It’s stupid and cutesy (prepare your barf bags), but I wear a brown hairtie from my girlfriend around my wrist. To me it’s a daily reminder that I’m lucky to have found her and I best stay faithful or else some Lorena Bobbitt shit might go down.

3.[Go To Coat] I purchased this ALab winter coat at Zumiez a couple years back and I’ll always manage to grab it before running out the door. It’s brown with a subtle blue/brown plaid pattern and it also has a little shag on the inside to keep me toasty.

4.[Favorite Top or Suit] This may be the fourth or fifth time I’ve nearly gotten myself off to merely speaking about graphic tees on the blog, but here it goes again… I love them! It is hands down my favorite type of top/shirt. It may be an easy way out when you’re talking about matching the perfect bow tie with the cleanest dress shirt, but I’m a graphic designer. I can’t help it.

5.[Favorite Bottoms] Gap jeans are my best friend when it comes to shopping for pants. I don’t know what it is, but their pants were made to fit a skinny-ass kid like myself.

6. My god, if I didn’t have my Powerbook (Mac) I don’t know I’d do with myself. This should go at #1 of the most used item on my essentials list. In all honesty, I’m just a nerd who can’t manage to pull myself from the Internet. If I lost my computer I’d probably cry for weeks on end. Sad truths.

7. When you’re talking about essential items, items I really couldn’t live without, I’d most certainly have to include my car. I’m not one of those people who can ride their bike everywhere, (I’m more of a pogo-stick guy anyways), so I choose to cruise in the family friendly Volvo S70.

8. This is another important item I really couldn’t live without. I suppose this should go in place of my accessory essential, but my glasses are of the utmost importance. This summer I purchased a pair of tortoise shell, thick-framed Versace glasses. Now, I’m not much of a label whore, so screw you if you’ve already started judging me. They just… worked.

9. Number nine is probably a good spot to include my bookbag. It may be a bit juvenile to rock a bookbag upon entering the “professional world,” but for me it’s a symbol of my experiences and specific memories. On top of that it’s just damn handy. Who knows, maybe I’ll embrace the man bag if I make my way to The Big Apple with a cushy design job, but for now my button littered bookbag fits the bill.

10. I should probably be slapped just for mentioning this, but I was having a hard time coming up with a tenth item. I’m going to share with you an essential item in the form of a mannerism, just because I have found that I don’t even know I do it anymore (that’s how essential to my being I suppose it is). I have a “gasm” mannerism and I shall explain. I often make remarks with the addition of “gasm” on the end of the word, just to spice things up and create a few laughs I guess. For instance, if I’m in the middle of a kick-ass concert I may shout out in excitement, “This shit is an eargasm!” Or perhaps if I were watching a friend do work on twenty-four of the most generously sauced chicken wings, I may awkwardly interject with a, “Those wings look like a mouthgasm, dude.” Trust me, I hate myself sometimes too.

11. I tried to save the best for last. It was a tough decision filling up this last slot, but I think I’ve come up with the perfect last essential item in my life; my chest hair. Yes, that’s right. For it has gotten me more winks, into more nightclubs free of charge and more pants parties than I can count. It gives me the right to rock a flannel shirt without hesitation, grow a playoff beard without worrying about an incorrect beard to chest hair ratio and it also gives me the right to swing an axe with all my might, in the case that said chest hair is being supported by said playoff beard. For all of those glorious things, I am grateful.